What kitchen worktops?

[Invisiblewoman1]

What kitchen worktops do you have and fo you recommend or say avoid?
Doing my kitchen and tempted ty quartz

We have Caesarstone currently and it’s held up really well (Barkeepers Friend is a miracle worker!). I have polished concrete in my rental and it’s okay but hasn’t worn as well. I used to rent a place with wood and I didn’t like it at all, I was constantly anxious about water pooling.

I have had quartz twice now and would definitely recommend it. They look lovely, stand up to a knock, can take a hot pan and a bit of cif on anything like turmeric and it comes out.

We have marble. We were going to get marble look quartz as it’s perfectly nice and less likely to mark. But swung to marble in the end as we just loved it so much more than the quartz. It does mark. We still absolutely love it. No regrets.

Granite is the most hardwearing IME, even more than quartz, but hard to find in light colours which people want at the moment.

Waiting for our kitchen installation to start in June. We’ve ordered Dekton (lunar) but, as it’s not installed yet I can’t speak for performance…

I've had Silestone which was pretty indestructible. I have some sort of reconstituted stone now with a veiny pattern - it has seamless sink which I like.
I would avoid wood.

We're planning to have Dekton in our new kitchen. I like the look and it seems to be the most indestructible surface available. I have two teenagers so a high maintenance worktop is not an option.

i loved the look of dekton when we had our kitchen put in last year but the worktops alone were the same price as the kitchen as we went for a gloss one from DIY kitchens that cost £3k altogether for the units couldnt justify that so we went for duropal laminate in carrera marble pattern i love it spray with kitchen cleaner microfibre cloth and it still looks new 12 months later i have glass worktop protectors for the places i would put hot pans , yes mine is cheap and cheerful but our budget didnt allow for a high end posh kitchen with worktops in the thousands

We have granite, and love it. Over 10 years old now and looks as good as it did the day it went in - no mark on it. Can withstand anything, especially hot pans straight out the oven - no need for faffing about with trivets, pan protectors etc. Great for rolling pastry on, and general food prep too.

We've got a white quartz worktop, been in 4 years. We do look after it, but it's scratched to fuck all over (light scratches, mind, but you really can see them) and it stains really easily. Also looks identical to my sister's white not-quartz worktop which didn't cost anywhere near as much as ours.

It still looks beautiful, just not close up.

We've got quartz and love it. We also used to have corian and that was great too.

We have quartz and love it - lovely feel to it and less stressful than marble. :)

I also had Dekton and liked it/did not like it - it seemed a bit brittle.

We had corian installed about 8 weeks ago, it's fabulous. Bullet proof and still completely pristine, even though it's white. Having had oak worktops for years, I'm particularly enjoying not obsessively drying round the sink!

@Invisiblewoman1

Only get black granite ( if going black) with flecks in. I didn’t and spend my life wiping with special cleaner!

We have oak and I love it!

No staining here so far - had masses of oil on it. Oiled every few months. I have a couple of massive trivets next to the stove so no burn marks from hot things.

It looks gorgeous, I was really worried it would be high maintenance but it is not. Plus you can always sand it down and start again.

We've chosen quartz for new kitchen - supplier gave us a couple of samples, I tried turmeric on it, left it 15 mins - came of with a wipe of bleach. Seems OK. Tea and wine came off easily.

Had black granite with a fleck in last house - daughter left a vinegar bottle on it with vinegar round the base, spotted it an hour later, left a white ring

We have Neolith - similar to Dekton. It is the bees’ knees. (And wasn’t hugely pricey compared to Silestone)

We have granite easy to clean with a wipe and granite spray. Only extra care we take is to put hot dishes on a board and anything scratchy e. Cake rack on a teatowel. Brilliant for pastry and bread making and very low maintenance but would caution that you get what you pay for and make sure it’s been properly sealed before you use it.

Wood effect laminate. I'm very happy with it. It suits the style of my traditional/country kitchen and I didn't want the hassle of oiling and maintaining real wood.

Very into this thread. We have iroko wood (reclaimed school lab bench) at the moment and I love it but fed up with being the only person who bothers wiping it down by the sink, so in New Kitchen we will repurpose most of it on a peninsula, away from wet areas, and have either quartz or corian on the main worktop. I love the warmth of the wood and it will soften the hard edges of the composite. At least that's the plan!

Love this thread too.

I thought Quartz and marble was pretty indestructible. I didn't realise that things also scratch and stain them?!

What's bomb proof? I'm so heavy handed and DH is worse!

We're getting corian. We couldy get quartz big enough for the island as it's just over max sheet size, and I don't want an obvious join.

I’ve ordered a compact laminate today!

Just catching up with this @BlackAlys we also wanted the bomb proof option, so went for Corian. I love it. Heat and water resistant, easy to clean, stains come off easily with a bit of Barkeepers Friend. It does scratch though, so use a chopping board.

Thanks @BeautifulandWilfulandDead !